Linde (LIN) Competitors

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) are related large-cap companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment and dividends.

Which has more risk and volatility, AMP or LIN?

Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AMP or LIN more profitable?

Linde has a net margin of 20.02% compared to Ameriprise Financial's net margin of 17.14%. Ameriprise Financial's return on equity of 68.93% beat Linde's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameriprise Financial	17.14%	68.93%	2.03%
Linde	20.02%	18.95%	9.26%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AMP or LIN?

84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate AMP or LIN?

Ameriprise Financial currently has a consensus target price of $526.43, suggesting a potential downside of 1.82%. Linde has a consensus target price of $518.80, suggesting a potential upside of 10.66%. Given Linde's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Linde is more favorable than Ameriprise Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameriprise Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media prefer AMP or LIN?

In the previous week, Linde had 20 more articles in the media than Ameriprise Financial. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Linde and 20 mentions for Ameriprise Financial. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat Ameriprise Financial's score of 1.31 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameriprise Financial	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Linde	37 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, AMP or LIN?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Ameriprise Financial. Ameriprise Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameriprise Financial	$17.26B	2.96	$3.40B	$29.43	18.22
Linde	$33.01B	6.69	$6.57B	$13.77	34.05

Is AMP or LIN a better dividend stock?

Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Ameriprise Financial pays out 21.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 43.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ameriprise Financial has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years and Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Summary

Linde beats Ameriprise Financial on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.